Poop Eaters

This study, one of six in the certain-to-be-popular Scoop on Poop series, begins with the cecotropes that little fuzzy bunnies excrete and then eat, and ends with a truly memorable photo of pooping whales. In between, Lawrence explains why certain animals eat poop: rodents and cassowaries to give nutrients a second pass through their digestive systems, baby elephants to add helpful digestive bacteria from a parent, dung beetles to feed themselves and their offspring, and leopard tortoises to supplement a calcium-poor diet with the ground-up bones in hyena stool. Anatomical diagrams join big, bright, labeled color photos to provide cogent visuals. A closing activity (requiring only paper and colored pencils!) reinforces the theme that it’s all part of nature’s food chain. Science education of the alimentary sort, with large helpings of “gross!”